from the free-speech-for-me,-but-not-for-thee dept

Paul Alan Levy alerts us to yet another shameful case of someone abusing trademark law to try to silence critics. In this case, it involves the software company Jenzabar, which makes software for colleges and universities, and apparently likes to play up the fact that its founder and CEO, Ling Chai, was one of the "leaders" of the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989, before fleeing to America. Apparently Chai likes to play up that connection for PR purposes, and has been able to get the press to cover Jenzabar with headlines like "From Tiananmen Leader to Netrepreneur" and "From Starting a Revolution to Starting a Company."

However, when the makers of a documentary film about the uprising at Tiananmen Square included some comments and links to articles that were critical of Chai, she went legal. It started with a lawsuit claiming defamation against the film makers, which got quickly tossed out. So, instead, Chai and Jenzabar appear to be trying to use trademark law to bankrupt the filmmakers. They've filed a trademark lawsuit, claiming that the filmmakers' web page, that talks about Chia and Jenzabar, violates its trademarks, noting that the page turns up in search results on Jenzabar and the term is in the metatags.

Pretty much everyone involved recognizes that this is a ridiculous abuse of trademark law to stifle free speech. There is no violation of trademark here. Posting links to stories about Chai and Jenzabar that are critical of her is not a trademark violation in any manner. Using the term in metatags is totally meaningless. It's a shame that someone who apparently once stood as a voice for freedom is now trying to stifle free speech in others via trademark law abuse.

If trademark laws allow such abuse, then it;s your problem. You elected retards who made those laws; deal with it and stop crying when everyone abuses it. Your whining just proves over and over again that your system is flawed and that no one will do anything about it.

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A KING! I will be staging a coup later today to pronounce myself King of the World. Then everyone can bitch about the people in charge because they had no hand in electing me or any of the idiots I appoint.

So you have an migrant to America who does the American thing and learns to behave just like the quintessential American business person ... then you criticize her for being more successful at that than non-immigrants ?!!!

"Pretty much everyone involved recognizes that this is a ridiculous abuse of trademark law..." If that is true and if the "involved" Americans are half as effective as Miss Chai then there isn't a big problem !.

"There is no violation of trademark here. Posting links to stories about Chai and Jenzabar that are critical of her is not a trademark violation in any manner."
But since many Americans can only blog around on the web giving absolute legal interpretations when they are not actually lawyers or even involved in the case (or any other case) and many other Americans listen.... we have a big problem,

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So you have an migrant to America who does the American thing and learns to behave just like the quintessential American business person ... then you criticize her for being more successful at that than non-immigrants ?!!!

Huh? The complaint has nothing to do with her immigrant status. Not even sure what you are saying here. And abusing trademark law to shut up your critics is not "behaving like the quintessential American business person." Just the opposite.

"Pretty much everyone involved recognizes that this is a ridiculous abuse of trademark law..." If that is true and if the "involved" Americans are half as effective as Miss Chai then there isn't a big problem !.

No, because it's perfectly fine to bankrupt some critics by abusing the law. Is that what you are saying?

But since many Americans can only blog around on the web giving absolute legal interpretations when they are not actually lawyers or even involved in the case (or any other case) and many other Americans listen.... we have a big problem,

Yes, that's right. Here in America no one is allowed to give their opinion. If you actually read the article, you'd see quotes from lawyers saying this is a ridiculous case. It's not like I just came up with the concept.

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"If trademark laws allow such abuse, then it's your problem. You elected retards who made those laws; deal with it and stop crying when everyone abuses it. Your whining just proves over and over again that your system is flawed and that no one will do anything about it."

How is keeping the public informed, whining? The more knowledge there is of issues like this, the better chance there is that the public will demand that changes be made.

So far, the only whining I see going on here is coming from you.

And, yes, I agree that the system is flawed, but only because all the rich folks in charge keep changing the rules to favor themselves.

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Please differentiate what she is doing as a business person, to what she did on the personal side. She was merely 23 years old when she was elected to lead a group of students against the CCP leadership, not to say a few platoons and tanks.

All that is fine, but it doesn't change the fact that (a) she used that personal story to her own advantage in business -- which certainly makes it fair game in criticizing her and (b) she's still abusing trademark law to silience critics.

I am not here to defend her. I am here to defend the group of so called student leaders.

Wait, did we criticize the "so called student leaders"? No. We did not. So what's the complaint again?

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"Huh? The complaint has nothing to do with her immigrant status...."
But it's relevant to our article as you play on the "fleeing to America" and try to suggest some kind of double cross.

"...Is that what you are saying?"
Obviously not. I'm saying if the legal situation is as clear as you pretend and if the "involved" Americans were effective they could shut down the abuse quickly. They probably won't because lawyers make more money by dragging things out - it's quite likley they will start a campaign for contributions to pay for lawyers ... how much would you give ?.

"Here in America no one is allowed to give their opinion" Wrong again ; you can have any opinion you like but it's a good idea to think about the subject before choosing an opinion.

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Jenzabar Nonsense

Jenzabar is obviously run by truly small and petty people, who will most likely drive their company to the ground one day. Throwing away money to punish indie filmmakers, who's out of print film you don't like, will only lead to more bad publicity.
These honorless Jenzabar pipsqueaks should have taken on the globe or pbs - who still stand behind the filmmakers by the way.
If they truly had a case, Jenzabar would sue PBS and the globe for slander, but they don't. It's an obvious abuse of the legal system that makes one pray karma exists.

free-speech-for-me,-but-not-for-thee dept

This article hits the nail on the head.
Read the complaint.
Read the response.
The absurdity in the complaint is completely addressed in the response.
The court has already decided the defamation issues are absurd.
The court will find the same absurdity in the trademark issues as has been pointed out repeatedly here and elsewhere.
Will this stop Jenzabar from a next harassment suit? Stay tuned.